Santi Debriano & Arkestra Bembe - Ashanti

Panama-born and New York-based Santi Debriano steers away from simplicity. The bassist-composer, who emigrated to the United States from Panama at the age of four and later obtained an ethnomusicology graduate degree from Wesleyan University, has made a point to transpose Afro-Caribbean tradition onto his compositional work. His latest mark, Ashanti, finds West African language and ritual at its core. Alongside his Arkestra Bembé, Debriano harnessed the power of the Yoruba tribe’s bembé — a celebration involving food, drink, music and dance — and fabricated his own, pandemic-inspired jam session tradition of a similar intimacy. Countless weeks of bembés yielded Ashanti, the stalwart bassist’s eighth release as a leader.

Santi Debriano - Bass, Compositions, Arrangement
Andrea Brachfeld - Flute
TK Blue - Alto Saxophone
Tommy Morimoto - Tenor saxophone
Ray Scro - Baritone saxophone
Emile Turner - Trumpet
Adrian Alvarado - Guitar
Mamiko Watanabe - Piano
Robby Ameen - Drums